1. Field of the Invention
This invention is concerned with the treatment of animal teats, especially but not necessarily exclusively in connection with a milking operation, the treatment involving the application of a topical substance to the outer skin surfaces of the teats. The invention is applicable in particular to the application of a teat dip to the teats of an animal at the end of an automatic milking procedure when the teat cups used for milking have been removed, although the invention could also be employed, for example, for treating animal teats as a preliminary step prior to milking, if this was desirable.
2. Description of Related Art
A primary purpose for applying a teat dip to the teats of an animal is to guard against infection, especially mastitis to which milking animals are susceptible, and teat dips comprising a disinfectant are well known. However, teat dips can also have other functions, such as to protect the teats against environmental conditions, such as intense sun or prolonged wetness, or to condition the teats, for example by skin moisturising, to combat the detrimental effects which can be suffered as a consequence of repeated milking in an automatic milking plant. It can also in some cases be beneficial for the teat dip to include a medication for treating skin injuries or ailments. There can as a consequence be varying demands with respect to a teat dip composition, possibly from one animal to another in the same herd or even between different teats of the same animals, or at different times of milking of the same animal.
In recent times fully automatic milking machines have been developed which are capable of milking animals, cows in particular, without requiring any personnel to be present. These automatic milking machines generally comprise a robot arm which attaches the teat cups to the respective teats of the udder of the cow. When not in use the teat cups can be held in a storage rack, e.g. as disclosed in WO-A-00/04767, or they can be carried on the robot arm, e.g. as described in EP-A-0535754. It has been proposed to include in a robotic milking machine a spray device which can be operated to spray liquid disinfectant onto the teats, or over the entire udder of a cow, after the cow has been milked. Thus, in the robot arm described in EP-A-0535754 a spray nozzle is fixedly mounted on the robot arm and is actuated to produce a flat spray of liquid which is directed across the udder. WO-A-00/04767 on the other hand has a spray device which is normally positioned on a holding rack and is collected by the robot arm when the teats are to be sprayed. These known teat spraying arrangements have a drawback in that they provide only for all cows milked in the same stall to have their udders/teats sprayed with the same liquid, and the nozzles are adapted to spray liquids with certain properties and allow little scope for modifying the teat dip composition in accordance with particular requirements.